So there I was minding my own business one Sunday afternoon, just browsing various food blogs and food related websites for ideas when I came across this brownie recipe on The Brown-eyed Baker webpage. The original recipe was credited to a one RecipeGirl; so I visited her site and I must say this idea intrigued me very much. I have never ventured so far as to make a layered brownie. The most adventurous thing I have done with a brownie was to add peanut butter and top it off with a peanut butter frosting. Have tried making cheesecake brownies but with very little success ~ that’s just how I am … a clutz when it comes to making more advanced versions of something. My first ever successful proper browniecame in the form of an Alton Brown recipe. It’s such a winner, I think I will be keeping it as my default brownie base for all other brownie recipes in future.
Anyway, back to the brownies at hand … the pictures on the website looked so delish that I had to make these myself. Seemed simple enough for me to handle, so I did. This is obviously a two-part brownie so start off with making the brownie base first.
Brownie Base :
- 230 g (8 oz) plain unsalted butter, melted
- 220 g (1 cup) brown sugar
- 220 g (1 cup) regular white sugar
- 148 g (1 1/4 cups) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 64 g (1/2 cup) plain AP flour
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 large eggs
1. Preheat oven to 190ºC. Prepare your baking tin by buttering the inside and lining it with parchment paper, making sure some hangs off the edges.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs for about a minute or two.
3. Sift all dry ingredients together and add them to the eggs, all the while mixing on low coz you don’t want an airy, fluffy cake mixture. You want dense brownies.
4. Once that has been well incorporated drizzle in the melted butter and the vanilla extract. You will end up with a fairly dense, sticky mixture.
5. Pour into your prepared tins and bake for 45 – 50 mins. Remove from oven and let it cool completely. Now you can move on to make your egg-less cookie dough topping.
Now that the brownies are sitting to one corner of the kitchen cooling down, it’s time to embark on the cookie dough topping. Super easy and quick, you’ll have this put together in no time. However, on a more serious note, it is recommended that you take caution when eating raw cookie dough. I’ve been doing some reading on the effects of eating uncooked cookie dough and the verdict isn’t so pretty. Apparently, in 2009, a whole bunch of people got sick from eating raw cookie dough which they had purchased at their respective stores. The cause of the illness was E.coli and the experts said it was down to the flour being untreated to kill pathogens. So just a heads up to everyone; I wouldn’t make a huge batch and eat some of it everyday of the week. I know a friend who eats cookie dough and cake batter on a regular basis and nothing untoward has ever happened to her or her gut. Having said that I would still like to have you make that informed decision yourself rather than just take my word for it. Here is the article http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/12/09/dough-cookie-salmonella.html
Eggless Cookie Dough.
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp whole milk
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups (170 g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups mini chocolate chips
1. Cream the butter with both the sugars, about 3 – 4 minutes, until mixture is nice and fluffy and most of the sugar granules have dissolved.
2. Add the first cup of flour and mix that on low. Now add in the milk and the vanilla extract.
3. Finally add in the last of the flour and stir in the chocolate chips using a rubber spatula.
4. Spread the cookie dough over the now cooled brownie and chill for about an hour before slicing into bars.
These brownies were a huge winner in my house. I looooooove cookie dough and this one really hit the spot for me … I would make it again but finding chocolate chips here in the Netherlands seems to be rather difficult. I have to go to a proper chocolate shop to get a bag of chocolate chips, yet the supermarket shelves are positively heaving with chocolate sprinkles.
I fully intend on expanding my brownie repertoire in the near future; possibly work on making a rocky road version, or a minty variety. I used to frequent The Brownie Factory in the basement of Takashimaya, Singapore … SO GOOD!! I particularly favoured the triple fudge brownie, but I have no idea how to make them myself. Visiting the Brownie Factory seriously tested my ability to exercise restraint coz I wanted nothing more than to order one of each flavour (except the ones with nuts) … they were all sinfully decadent and rich.
So here’s hoping I get off my lazy bum and fulfill my vow of making more brownie varieties, eh? But until the next time … goodluck with this recipe. You won’t be disappointed.
~ Enjoy ~
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